The February issue features a special report of the contemporary architecture and design of Belgium, with new projects by 51N4E, architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, Nikolas Firket Architects, Dierendonckblancke Architects, and a revisitation of a vital and unknown piece of Belgian modernism by Jacques Gillet. Simultaneously, Justin McGuirk surveys the contemporary Belgian design scene, which is currently enjoying a fruitful phase of creative vitality.
Domus 966 travels to Rem Koolhaas/OMA's Maison à Bordeaux, which was recently transformed and expanded by Petra Blaisse/Inside Outside, in a textile revisitation; and James Bridle ventures into the realm of unachievable hyperreality that is the architecturel rendering, unlocking the messages implicit in these visualisations.
Domus would like to thank ATM for their collaboration in the realisation of this month's cover image.
Table of Contents
Cover
20 December 2012: Abdullah Anshasi, a member of the Gaza Parkour Team, trains near the Khan Younis refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph by Antonio Ottomanelli
Editorial: Parkour in Palestine
Domus interviews Gaza Parkour Team
Op–Ed Gideon: A park for Roosevelt, 40 years later
Gideon Fink Shapiro
Journal
Edited by Elena Sommariva
Photoessay
Rereading Gaza. Antonio Ottomanelli
The Belgian affair
The influence of events such as Interieur and "Reciprocity", which spring from the same fertile ground that has produced institutions like Z33 and studios like Unfold, suggests that Belgium is enjoying a fruitful phase of creative vitality. Text Justin McGuirk. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Seasons of life
With their designs for a kindergarten and a home for the elderly, 51N4E uses architecture not to conceal daily life but to situate it, in all its fragility, squarely at the centre of the urban stage. Design 51N4E. Text Pier Paolo Tamburelli. Photos Filip Dujardin. Edited by Laura Bossi
Vernacular variations
De Vylder Vinck Taillieu's subtly humorous alterations to the regional architecture of Flanders playfully offer it new purpose. Design architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Text Angelique Campens. Photos Filip Dujardin. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
A house non-house
In the Belgian city of Liège, working with a modest budget, Nicolas Firket Architects designed "a void to be colonised" for a young family. Design Nicolas Firket Architects. Text Femke Bijlsma. Photos Filip Dujardin. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Making space for daily life
Based in Ghent, Alexander Dierendonck and Isabelle Blancke draw inspiration from Belgian architecture of the postwar years. Design Dierendonckblancke Architects. Text Maurizio Cohen. Photos Stijn Bollaert, Filip Dujardin. Edited by Laura Bossi
Inhabited sculpture
In the wilderness surrounding Liège, lies one of the few realised works of Jacques Gillet: a vital and unknown masterpiece of Belgian modernism. Text Adam Štech. Photos Tomáš Soucek. Edited by Laura Bossi
Network: Maracanã House
In the house designed by Danilo Terra, Pedro Tuma and Juliana Assali, outside and inside merge in an articulate and continuous shape. Text Daniel Corsi. Photos Pedro Kok
Maison à Bordeaux. A textile revisitation
Through a series of gestures in textile, Petra Blaisse/Inside Outside has transformed our understanding of the building designed 15 years ago by Rem Koolhaas/OMA. Design Inside Outside/Petra Blaisse and Peter Niessen. Text Niklas Maak. Photos Jean-Christophe Garcia, Petra Blaisse, Peter Niessen. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Art & life in Palestine
Through a collective cultural initiative unprecedented in Palestine's history, cities and villages of a region known as a theatre of ongoing conflict were reunited in a single endeavour—if only on show for two weeks. Text Beth Stryker. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Balloons and render ghosts
Long before buildings become physical entities, they enter the world as images—yet the messages implicit in these visualisations are rarely interrogated or decoded. Text James Bridle. Edited by Rita Capezzuto
Age-Friendly Products. The winners
The results of the Age-Friendly Products competition explore the almost limitless ways through which design can improve the lives of the demographic group in fastest expansion. Text Maria Grazia Mazzocchi. Photos Matteo Cirenei. Edited by Loredana Mascheroni
Review
Facades. Edited by Giulia Guzzini
Panorama
Edited by Guido Musante
Cold Case
Expo 58, Brussels. Texts Luigi Spinelli, Elena Ferrari. Edited by Luigi Spinelli